The Indulgence
by Strawberry Shortcake123
Summary: I joined Dauntless out of a desire to be brave and free. I could have achieved that on my own, but I don't have to, because I met Tobias. Oneshot.


**Welcome to my first ever Divergent fic. I've been writing fan fiction for a long time, but I am new to this fandom. I don't know if I'll be writing anymore Divergent stuff; sort of depends on how this one goes.**

**I've read all the books, but it's been a while, so I really hope this is in-character. I don't actually care too much for Insurgent and Allegiant as pieces of literature, but I adore Divergent, both the book and the movie. And Fourtris, of course.**

**This takes place in Dauntless, at some point after initiation, if there had been no war. Hope you enjoy my first foray into writing these characters. :)**

"Tris, come on. Why are you just sitting there?"

I make no move to get up from my spot against the wall. Some Dauntless I don't recognize are a few feet away, pounding on drums with a pace and skill that leads me to believe this is a hobby of theirs, though I've never seen them here in the Pit before. My slightly intoxicated friends move to the beat with a confidence I do not possess. Their hips sway; their arms rise up above their heads. If I took a few more sips of the beer in my hand, I might be able to join them. But the drink burns my throat; I can't stand even one more swallow.

"Abnegation don't dance," Will tells Christina. "It's indulgent."

"So? We're all Dauntless now." She attempts to break away from him and come toward me, but he grabs her by the waist and whispers something in her ear. She punches him in the arm, laughing. I am forgotten, and I'm fine with that.

I run my finger along the lip of the beer bottle contemplatively, but the bitter smell makes me wrinkle my nose and set it aside. When I chose Dauntless, I was still dressed in Abnegation grey. Still meek. Now I feel brave, braver than I ever imagined possible, but there are some old tendencies that may never leave me.

"You done with that?"

Tobias appears next to me, reaching for my drink. I stare at the muscles in his arms longer than I should. "Yes," I answer, and he takes a long gulp before plunking it back down. I wonder how long he was in Dauntless before he felt free to engage in things Abnegation would never allow. His life in our old faction was far less fortunate than mine; it's possible that he didn't have any trouble letting go. "Are you just now getting off work?"

"I was covering for Zeke."

"Where did he go?"

"I didn't ask." He glances at Will and Christina, and his mouth curls up into a smirk. "Looks like you're having fun."

"Not really. Want to go somewhere else?"

I'm fully expecting him to say yes. Rarely does either of us deny that proposition; between his job and my new internship, we don't get as much alone time as we would like. But, to my surprise, he shakes his head. "Nah. I think I want to dance with you."

My heart stills in my chest. "What?" In reply, he extends both hands toward me. "Tobias-"

"Just for a minute," he tries. I don't budge. "Thirty seconds. Alright?"

"Fine." I let him pull me to my feet. When I come to stand before him, he grasps me around the waist, but keeps a respectable distance between us. My hands settle on his shoulders. The beat of the music is fast. We go slow. "I have to say, I didn't have you pegged as the dancing type."

"I'm not." Tobias shrugs. He begins to move my hips back and forth. I start to resist, but, ultimately, I don't want to. Not when he's smiling at me that way; not when I'm starting to let go of my inhibitions just a bit. "Might be with you, though."

His words make my stomach turn over in the best way possible. Christina is staring at us; I can see her out of the corner of my eye. She's still a little annoyed that I was secretly dating our instructor toward the end of initiation, and I usually make a point to have minimal physical contact with Tobias when we're around her, but right now, I couldn't care less. Let her watch. Let her judge.

"So what do you think?" I ask after a minute or so. "Are we the sort of couple who dances?"

"Huh." Tilting his head to the side, he tugs me forward so that I am right up against him. My heart rate immediately triples. "I don't know. I'm not sure I've thoroughly evaluated your skill set."

"My skills lie predominantly in other areas."

The words are out of my mouth before I have the chance to think about their multiple connotations, and my cheeks heat up. Tobias just grins. He leans into me, fingers drifting under the hem of my shirt to stroke my bare skin, and then his mouth is at my ear. "I'm aware," he says lowly. Playfulness underlies his suggestive tone; in actuality, we have yet to do anything more intimate than kissing. Suddenly, I want more. What _more_ is, I'm not sure; all I know is that I try to achieve it by pressing my body harder into his. He laughs against the side of my neck. It is not all amusement for him, though; I feel his muscles coil with tension, as if he, too, wishes we were not on display right now.

Perhaps I will always struggle to grasp the concept of frivolity, but this no longer seems silly and pointless. We are not tipsy. We don't make wild gestures. Our indulgence is in each other. And I do not feel guilty, not in the least, for leaning into his embrace; for tightening my arms around his torso; for tilting my head up to kiss him.

"I have a verdict," I say when I pull away.

Tobias cocks his eyebrow at me. "What's that?"

"We're probably not the dancing type by nature." I smooth my hands over his back. "But we could be, if we wanted."

He stares at me, thinking it over, and then the corner of his mouth quirks upward. "Yeah. If we wanted."

I joined Dauntless out of a desire to be brave and free. I could have achieved that on my own, but I don't have to, because I met Tobias. With him, I feel like I can overcome any doubt I've ever had about myself. Like I can be anything, _do_ anything.

We could dance together. Yes, we definitely could.

What we're doing tonight may not be dancing in the technical sense of the word, but we hold each other close, and we sway, and when I accidentally step on his foot, he laughs and squeezes my side, sending pleasant chills down my spine.

To me, those are the important things.


End file.
